Dieticians, nutritionists, etcetera, believe that fruits are necessary for our diets. The question is, what if these fruits are sprayed with harmful pesticides that pose both a risk and a benefit for crops, health of people, and the economy?
Driscoll strawberries are one of the most popular fruits for consumers. In fact, this brand is the most common brand in U.S. grocery stores. When a brand is this popular, it should be safe to expect that it won’t bring harm to the body.
Although this is the case, it is difficult to prioritize one over the other: farmers and their crops or a risk to consumers’ health.
The pesticides that farmers use, in this case on their strawberries, are used to minimize economic losses for when insects, weeds, rodents, etcetera, feed off their crops and destroy them. Farmers rely on their crops for money, although most have off-farm jobs to make more income.
When putting into perspective how important crops are to farmers, it may begin to make sense why pesticides are necessary. When farmers use these pesticides, it is used to protect humans in some way even if it could carry potential long term issues for certain groups of people.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, “Infectious diseases such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease, and rabies can be carried and spread by vector (disease-carrying) species such as mosquitoes, ticks, and rodents.” These pests are the same ones that farmers want to keep away from their crops.
These pesticides get sprayed to prevent insects that can bring more harm to humans. The ones that go after farmers’ crops are the same ones that carry the diseases. While this is the case, the pesticides that farmers use have such a variety of chemicals that it is linked to long term illnesses and allegedly cancer.
Our Cancer Stories adds, “12 different pesticide residues were found on the conventional strawberries… These compounds, known as ‘forever chemicals’, can persist in the environment and the human body for years.”
When customers get repeatedly exposed to these chemicals, their bodies build up the toxins and are linked to increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer. When Driscoll was asked to respond to the allegations, a spokesperson for Driscoll stated that they “operate in full compliance with applicable US federal, state and local pesticide and food-safety regulations.”
These pesticides that get used have its advantages and disadvantages. It’s difficult to determine what’s good for farmers v. consumers and there is no direct answer for it despite seeing through what it can do to the body and the crops.
Although farmers want to keep insects and weeds away, it’s important to think about what could be more important. Whether it be about economics or being ethical, one will have to be chosen over the other despite it being an impossible choice in the mind of a consumer.
